Hallie Dixon is proving to be a not-ready-for-prime-time-district-attorney... I am honestly embarassed FOR her, and to a lesser degree, Baldwin County Sheriff Hoss Mack... No, Summer Moody was no angel, but the fact is, deadly force was NOT lawfully justified in this case... Hallie Dixon knows this; Hoss Mack knows this. As soon as Summer Moody take her last breath, there had better be criminal charges brought against the shooter or the US Justice Dept will be involved. Moody's family will see to it.

This story will be around for a long time to come. Did these men act appropriately to protect property with deadly force when no threat was made to them personally/directly? ... I've always heard that if you shoot someone breaking into YOUR home, you had better drag them inside afterward, and this wasn't even THEIR home... Someone is in a LOT of trouble, and it's not only the three surviving teens either.

So, she LIED to her parent(s) about her whereabouts, hooked up with three thugs in the wee morning hours, participated in not one but THREE burglaries, and is now clinging to her life because a property-owner chose to defend his property from the likes of this "stand-out"... Is that about it?

The details that are emerging paint a much different picture of Summer Moody than the "standout-this" and "standout-that" being pipelined to the media by her family. For starters, she was out at 4am with THREE males whose identies are now hush-hush. WHY wasn't she at home like other good little 17-year-old girls? hmmmmm ???

It's a MOOT point, is it not? ... At age 13, when she was impregnated, she WAS a minor in the state of Alabama, therefore she could not give consent for sex. Consequently, the man, then 24, who made her pregnant is GUILTY of statutory rape. This episode shows WHY such statutes are law.

They HAVE wised up, Paperweight, the reality is, an underaged and immature 13 year ago girl was made pregnant by a 'boyfriend' almost twice her age. NOW, with no means to support herself or her baby, she has run-off to be with this grass-cutter in a vehicle that does not belong to her. THAT is the reality.

This is the same neighborhood where a female USA student was raped last year. I don't believe the assailants were ever apprehended. This used to be a pretty safe neighborhood until the 'renters' started moving in.

The article I read said that DOJ was ASKING Alabama school districts to comply with their request for information... ASKING indeed... They don't have the authority to DEMAND it and AG Luther Strange called them on it... If DOJ wants information on Alabama students, Mr. PEREZ can get a court order for his thinly veiled attempt at promoting illegal immigration.

"We are going to take out 7 countries in 5 years." ... "Starting with Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and finishing off Iran."

In an interview recently, available on You Tube, now retired General Clark said:

"The truth is about the Middle East is, had there been no oil there, it would be like Africa. Nobody is threatening to intervene in Africa. The problem is the opposite, we keep asking for people to intervene and stop it. And there is, ah, there's no question that the presence of petroleum throughout the region has sparked great valory involvement. Whether that was the specific motivation for the coup or not, I can't tell ya, but, but, there was definitely, there has always been this attitude that we could somehow intervene and use force in the region."

Well, interestingly enough General Clark, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia and Sudan are not major oil-producing states, so, HOW does THAT square with your logic that "...the truth about the Middle East is, had there been no oil there, it would be like Africa." ???

"There is evidence that both the military-industrial complex and hard-line Zionist proponents of 'greater Israel' disingenuously use oil (as an issue of national interest) in order to disguise their own nefarious special interests and objectives: justification of continued expansion of military spending, extension of sales markets for military hardware, and recasting the geopolitical map of the Middle East in favor of Israel." Source, Asia Times: 'Are they really oil wars?' ...

ALL of the mentioned states ARE Muslim AND enemies of the state of Israel, including Afghanistan, which is curiously absent from his critique. General Clark necessarily hedged on telling the entire truth, however, it IS interesting that he revealed that it had been preordained that Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran would be targeted by US fighting forces as soon as the opportunity presented itself, and in the case of Iraq and Libya, it has.

The curent US foreign policy is explained in, 'The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy' by John J. Mearsheimer, Ph.D., Department of Political Science, University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt, Ph.D., Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University ...

It is available in its entirety as a free download in pdf format as PubId=3670 at harvard dot edu

... or, in a condensed version, 'The Israel Lobby', at London Review of Books:

... or as a hard cover book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Read the FACTS, and see for yourself WHY Obama's policies are following George W Bush's policies, which followed Bill Clinton's polices, which followed George H W Bush's policies in the Middle East, and WHY US foreign policy is no longer being conducted in the best interests of the people of the United States of America.

In Mr. Patterson's manifesto, he claims: "We, the voters, who have elected all of these clowns are the only ones to blame for the calamity to come."

Oh, REALLY?

WHOSE money was used for these "clowns" to get elected, and WHOSE media promoted them, Mr. Patterson? ... What choices did the people have other than the two-sides-of-the-same-coin, least-of-two-evils when they voted, if in fact, they even bothered to vote at all?

WHO hijacked the people's institutions of government by supplying the millions of dollars in re-election campaign funding needed to secure a job that earns a fraction of that during its term?

WHO hijacked the foreign policy of the USA to involve our military in unnecessary and exorbitantly expensive foreign wars in the name of a 'war on terrorism', when the father of our country, George Washington, cautioned our leaders to "steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world, and avoid entanglements in avoidable wars"?

"It is not America's destiny to go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." ~ John Quincy Adams

WHO 'persuaded' the watchmen and regulators of Wall Street to summarily rescind regulations that would lead to the very unbridled greed and corruption now wrecking the world's economy?

WHO are the proponents of immigration policies so absurd that the only explanation could be, by design, the systematic cleansing of those voices that would stand against them in their pursuit of the latest master plan for world domination via a new world order?

WHO is behind the assaults on the Christian principles, and the very Constitution this once great nation was built upon?

Are the people "the only ones to blame for the calamity to come", Mr. Patterson, or is there something else much more sinister at work here? ... Do you really blame ourselves, or should that blame be placed where it lies, even if it is currently deemed politically incorrect?

Do you really believe "there is nothing we want to do or will do to stop it", well, there is something that can be done, Mr. Patterson: open your eyes!

Still haven't figured it out? ... Then take a CLOSE look at 1930s Germany and see for yourself the parallels that abound with modern day America, and those responsible for them, sir.

"In a democracy you will have as good a government as you demand, and as poor of one as you will tolerate." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Re: "Lincoln’s critics just don’t get it" ... No, it is YOU who just doesn't get it, Mr. Loftin...

You fail to realize WHY Lincoln has received the accolades you mentioned in your letter... The history of the heroic struggle, "The War Between the States" was written by the VICTORS... Their version of the Civil War was impressed by all the influences of history and education to honor THEIR cause, and regard the gallant dead of the South as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision.

For the record, Mr. Loftin, in the US Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made himself a dictator, closing down opposition newspapers, suspending habeas corpus, and locking up newspaper editors and legislators hostile to his crusade. He could have easily avoided the Civil War, the costliest war ever in terms of lost American lives, but chose not to.

His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom.

The sixteenth US president was a man who devoted his political career to revolutionizing the American form of government from one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralized—as the Founding Fathers intended—to a highly centralized, activist state. Standing in his way, however, was the South, with its independent states, its resistance to the national government, and its reliance on unfettered free trade.

To accomplish his goals, Lincoln subverted the Constitution, trampled states' rights, and launched a devastating Civil War, whose wounds still haunt us. 600,000 American soldiers did not die for the honorable cause of ending slavery but for the dubious agenda of sacrificing the independence of the states to the supremacy of the federal government, which has been tightening its grip on our republic to this very day.

Neither the U.S. Congress nor Abraham Lincoln ever declared they were fighting a war to free slaves. Lincoln repeatedly said he fought the war only to collect a 40 percent federal sales tax on imported products under the Morrill Tariff Act, and not to end slavery.

Lincoln declared in his first inaugural speech: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."

Lincoln wrote in two presidential proclamations:

"Whereas, the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed..." He had ordered 75,000 troops to invade the Confederate States and their ports be blockaded with U.S. warships.

Even the Emancipation Proclamation, enacted halfway through the war, exempted over a million slaves held by the North, including General Ulysses S. Grant’s four slaves he owned throughout the entire war.

February 17, 1865, in the closing months of Lincoln’s War of Northern Aggression, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman destroyed Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, burning it to the ground. He planned this war crime in advance promising to “make Georgia howl” and “punish South Carolina as she deserves” for her “sins” against the Union. With the blessing of President Abraham Lincoln, General Sherman and his 62,000 battle-hardened Union troops fulfilled his promise, raping, pillaging and burning their way through both states.

Civilian homes were looted, graves desecrated, women, both white and black, raped and murdered, thousands of citizens, both white and black, left homeless and forced to forage for whatever morsel of food they could find in the rubble left in the wake of the Union marauders.

Let the record here show that William Tecumseh Sherman and Abraham Lincoln both were little more than terrorists and war criminals. It is little wonder that John Wilkes Booth was motivated to assassinate the 16th US president. I only regret that William Tecumseh Sherman did not suffer the same fate.

Do a little more reading, Mr. Loftin... I suggest you start here: The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, and Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream by Lerone Bennett Jr., a black man.

You will emerge from these readings a CHANGED man, Mr. Loftin, and much more attuned to how the history of the heroic struggle, "The War Between the States" was written by the VICTORS, and how THEIR version of the Civil War was impressed by all the influences of history and education to honor THEIR cause.

In the US Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made himself a dictator, closing down opposition newspapers, suspending habeas corpus, and locking up newspaper editors and legislators hostile to his crusade. He could have easily avoided the Civil War, the costliest war ever in terms of lost American lives, but chose not too.

His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom.

The sixteenth US president was a man who devoted his political career to revolutionizing the American form of government from one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralized—as the Founding Fathers intended—to a highly centralized, activist state. Standing in his way, however, was the South, with its independent states, its resistance to the national government, and its reliance on unfettered free trade.

To accomplish his goals, Lincoln subverted the Constitution, trampled states' rights, and launched a devastating Civil War, whose wounds haunt us still. 600,000 American soldiers did not die for the honorable cause of ending slavery but for the dubious agenda of sacrificing the independence of the states to the supremacy of the federal government, which has been tightening its vise grip on our republic to this very day.

Neither the U.S. Congress nor Abraham Lincoln ever declared they were fighting a war to free slaves.

Lincoln repeatedly said he fought the war only to collect a 40 percent federal sales tax on imported products under the Morrill Tariff Act, and not to end slavery.

Lincoln declared in his first inaugural speech: “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”

Lincoln wrote in two presidential proclamations:

“Whereas, the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed...” ... He had ordered 75,000 troops to invade the Confederate States and their ports be blockaded with U.S. warships. It is hardly an issue WHO fired the first shot.

Even the Emancipation Proclamation, enacted halfway through the war, exempted over a million slaves held by the Union, including General Ulysses S. Grant’s four slaves he owned the entire war.

February 17, 1865, in the closing months of Lincoln’s War of Northern Aggression, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman destroyed Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, burning it to the ground. He planned this war crime in advance promising to “make Georgia howl” and “punish South Carolina as she deserves” for her “sins” against the Union. With the blessing of President Abraham Lincoln, General Sherman and his 62,000 battle-hardened Union troops fulfilled his promise, raping, pillaging and burning their way through both states.

Civilian homes were looted, graves desecrated, women, both white and black, raped and murdered, thousands of citizens, both white and black, left homeless and forced to forage for whatever morsel of food they could find in the rubble left in the wake of the Union marauders.

Let the record here show that William Tecumseh Sherman and Abraham Lincoln both were little more than terrorists and war criminals. It is little wonder that John Wilkes Booth was motivated to assassinate the 16th US president. My only regret is that Sherman did not meet the same fate.

Do some more reading and research, wilee23, before you pretend to impart an unenlightened opinion upon us masquerading as learned wisdom; you have much learning yet to do.

Mr. WILLIE HENRY REID's letter did much to alert the public to the degree of ignorance regarding the subject matter on which Mr. Reid, and those like him, feel qualified to comment publicly.

The article you are referring to, Mr. Reid, authored by Sean Price, managing editor at the Teaching Tolerance project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and published 6:08 AM, Sunday 20 February 2011, was entitled 'Truth is corrosive to the worship of the Confederacy', NOT 'Cognitive Dissonance', and it is but one issue your confusion is displayed for all to see.

You begin by suggesting that "We need to go to these events, take pictures and remove these people from public offices, law enforcement, schools, courts, prisons, etc" ... Are you suggesting, Mr. Reid, that your photo gathering excursion would somehow discourage these descendants of Confederate veterans from practicing their constitutionally protected right of free assembly? ... You are mistaken.

Then Mr. Reid says, "I hope to see more about terrorists, murderers and the organizations that identify with the ideals of the Confederacy." ... How casually you display the same prejudice and ignorance you are so quick to accuse others of, Mr. Reid. It is YOU who doesn't know history.

Mr. Reid then continues his rambling diatribe by stating, "The slavery system practiced in America, and the inhumane treatment that still persists, is the cruelest known in history that routinely justified marginalizing life, rape, torture and separating families."

WHAT is "the inhumane treatment that still persists" to which you elude, Mr. Reid? ... The affirmative action programs that routinely denies whites the employment opportunities they are well qualified for in favor of those of color less qualified? ... And how do you explain the prevalence of father-absent homes in your communities in modern day? ... Was it that different 150 years ago? ... Was rape, torture and abuse of a slave owner's high-priced property really that commonplace, or were they generally isolated incidents sensationalized by the likes of Harriet Beecher Stowe in 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'?

Finally, Mr. Reid says, "Those who find reason to celebrate the Confederacy are the same people who promote laws to harass people of color, make rules that create disparities in public services, and contribute to racial disharmony simply because they passionately believe that skin color, that outward appearance, defines everything about a person’s humanity."

WHAT evidence can you offer to support your assertion that those type disparities in public services exist, and laws to harass people of color, contributing to racial disharmony, are promoted in modern day, Mr. Reid? ... NONE.

Your rambling diatribe is based on the same type of ignorance and prejudice you are so quick to accuse others of, Mr. Reid, and on which the likes of Mr. Sean Price depends to keep his activist coffers filled with contributions that keep his salary paid.

Why not do a little research next time before pretending to impart an overtly biased, prejudiced and unenlightened opinion on others masquerading as intelligent thought.

Normally, I wouldn't devote the time necessary to dignify a mindless manifesto such as yours, Mr. Reid. But if this exercise results in you actually researching the subject matter you profess to be qualified to comment on publicly, and appreciating and understanding the debt of misconceptions that colors your reasoning, my time will have been well spent.

Every year about the time of Lincoln's birthday, articles in the main-stream-media emerge making their gratuitous annual assault on Southern culture, tradition and history. Some, like the wholly misguided and unenlightened Mr. Sean Price, managing editor at the Teaching Tolerance project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, are only too happy for the opportunity to echo sentiments that advance their privately-funded, secular-humanist, cultural Marxist agenda.

Mr. Price first presents his credentials, "I grew up in Texas, and the Confederacy was one of my first loves." ... "A favorite game among my neighborhood friends was to play 'Rebels and Yankees'." Well, that's interesting. I grew up in Mississippi, then Alabama, the heart of Dixie, and the game we played was 'cowboys and Indians'. Could it be that Mr. Price's memories have been conveniently modified to fit a hit-piece which secures his position with his employer, a Jewish staffed and funded activist organization who specializes in attacks on Southern, European-American, and Christian culture?

For the record, Mr. Price, in the US Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made himself a dictator, closing down opposition newspapers, suspending habeas corpus, and locking up newspaper editors and legislators hostile to his crusade. He could have easily avoided the Civil War, the costliest war ever in terms of lost American lives, but chose not too.

His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom.

The sixteenth US president was a man who devoted his political career to revolutionizing the American form of government from one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralized—as the Founding Fathers intended—to a highly centralized, activist state. Standing in his way, however, was the South, with its independent states, its resistance to the national government, and its reliance on unfettered free trade.

To accomplish his goals, Lincoln subverted the Constitution, trampled states' rights, and launched a devastating Civil War, whose wounds still haunt us. 600,000 American soldiers did not die for the honorable cause of ending slavery but for the dubious agenda of sacrificing the independence of the states to the supremacy of the federal government, which has been tightening its vise grip on our republic to this very day.

Whether or not you choose to acknowledge the true issues of the 'war between the states', and deride those who do, certainly says much about what motivates your behavior, Mr. Price: keeping your well-paying activist job. Had your association with the Southern Poverty Law Center been made known at the header of the article instead of the footer, I would not have bothered wasting my time on such an overtly biased and routine exercise in Southern culture bashing.

SHAME on the 'Press-Register Editorial Board' for attempting to elevate this opinion piece of garbage by labeling it: 'Insight'. It is neither insighful nor accurate in it depiction of the real issues regarding the subject matter, was instigated by a Jewish staffed and funded activist organization who specializes in attacks on Southern, European-American, and Christian culture, and does not serve the interests of the readership of which you depend. By definition, you’re suckers for a lost cause: defiling the TRUTH.

Every year about the time of Lincoln's birthday, articles in the main-stream-media emerge making such outrageous claims as, "Historians agree, Lincoln was the USA's greatest president!" ... Some, like the wholly misinformed and unenlightened Mr. Bruce King, are only too happy to echo those sentiments.

In the US Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made himself a dictator, closing down opposition newspapers, suspending habeas corpus, and locking up newspaper editors and legislators hostile to his crusade. He could have easily avoided the Civil War, the costliest war ever in terms of lost American lives, but chose not too.

His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom.

The sixteenth US president was a man who devoted his political career to revolutionizing the American form of government from one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralized—as the Founding Fathers intended—to a highly centralized, activist state. Standing in his way, however, was the South, with its independent states, its resistance to the national government, and its reliance on unfettered free trade.

To accomplish his goals, Lincoln subverted the Constitution, trampled states' rights, and launched a devastating Civil War, whose wounds haunt us still. 600,000 American soldiers did not die for the honorable cause of ending slavery but for the dubious agenda of sacrificing the independence of the states to the supremacy of the federal government, which has been tightening its vise grip on our republic to this very day.

To think this bizarre and misguided man's name is even mentioned in the same breath as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, let alone proclaimed "our best president", is as vile a thought imaginable for a learned individual and Southerner as could ever be.

Do some reading and research, Mr. King, before you pretend to impart an unenlightened opinion upon us masquerading as wisdom.

Sorry to see a Mobilian so enthusiastically participating in the demise of NASCAR...

Yet another enclave in once predominantly European-America is under assault by the greed obsessed... NASCAR apparently takes the loyalty of their fans for granted, but loyalty is a fragile thing, and like respect, it must be earned (continuously)...

Look for the flight of once loyal NASCAR fans to overshadow any gains in attracting the 'hip-hop culture', and the "It's all about the Benjamin's baby" mentality at NASCAR to get a reality check.